Preemptive Strike
by howzitthen
Summary: Takes place during the Nick/Jess blowup from 'Tomatoes'. Just from a third party's POV.


"What kind of incense is this anyway?" Caroline asked, holding a lighter to the end of the scented stick.

"I think it's evergreen something or other," Nick replied, sitting on the corner of his unmade bed. "It's been a good while since I've… partaken… so it might smell a bit stale."

He got up, picked his t-shirt up from the floor and pulled it over his head. She set the incense into its wooden holder, and turned to face him. She rolled up the sleeves of his blue flannel she had thrown on earlier and smiled.

"Music?" he asked.

"Sounds delightful," she replied. She walked back to his bed and sat down watching him. She wasn't sure about this. About him. She was surprised when he called, and even more surprised that she herself agreed to come meet him. And she was, of course, surprised how quickly she'd ended up back at his apartment.

"Any preferences?" he asked, flipping through his rack of CDs.

"Something soft… romantic?"

Only Nick Miller would still be relying on CDs as his preferred method of playing music, she thought. She'd have to remember to bring her iPod next time she came over. She looked around the room and noticed that it wasn't quite as messy as she remembered. Not clean by any means, but not a total wreck.

Nick settled on a slow, jazzy CD that Caroline didn't recognize. They didn't really have similar taste in music, but what he put on was something that was easy to ignore. He walked over to the bed and gave a little shimmy as he did so. She assumed this was for her benefit. She resisted the impulse to roll her eyes and forced a smile.

"Hey, I gotta run the powder room," she said. "Freshen up a bit."

"Don't let me stop you," he replied as she stood up. She leaned into him and gave him a small, dry kiss.

"I'll be right back," she said, opening the door.

She didn't get two steps out of the room before she felt the considerable mop of dark hair approaching her from the right. She turned quickly and was unhappily surprised to see Nick's roommate, all bangs and big eyes, and seemingly just as surprised to be seeing her.

"Oh… hey," Caroline said, trying not to sound too obviously annoyed.

"Hey… Caroline. How you doing?" Jess said, awkwardly adjusting her black jacket.

"Good… I'm just… going to use the bathroom."

She quickly turned and made a beeline for the restroom. She walked through the open door and paused. The door was propped open. What kind of girl moves in with three guys and allows them to prop the bathroom door open? Caroline bent down and flipped up the door stop, letting the door shut behind her. She took a second to look for the lock, but quickly remembered there wasn't one.

"Like living in a freaking dorm," she said under her breath.

She walked over to the twin sinks, rolling her eyes at the pair of urinals behind her. She leaned over and took a good look at herself in the mirror. Her hair was slightly mussed, but still mostly together. She ran her finger under her eyelid to wipe away the tiniest bit of mascara that had started to run, taking time to note the blueness of her own eyes. Maybe not quite as wide or dramatic as Jess', but blue enough. Blue enough for Nick's attention anyway. Besides, it's not like she couldn't darken her hair and pile it all down her forehead to help make her eyes 'pop' a bit more, too. She just chose not to.

Caroline scanned the shelves in front of the mirrors. Several different types of lotions, hair products, and perfumes lined both shelves. It took a while to discern which products were Jess' and which were Schmidt's, but it seemed safe to assume that the flowery scents were more likely to belong to Jess. Settling on a lavender moisturizer, Caroline pumped a few squirts of lotion into her palm and slowly massaged it into her hands and forearms. A few more flicks to her hair and she was ready to go back to Nick. She walked to the door, opened it, and didn't bother to put the stopper down again. She took a few steps and had to hide her dismay that Nick and Jess were still chatting just inside his door. Just inside, Caroline noted, not just outside. What does he need to be talking to her about? And so intensely?

"I'll never get used to those urinals," she spit out. She ignored the disingenuous laugh that came from Jess and slipped into Nick's room, fully intending to pull him in with her.

"Hey, would you give me a second," Nick said. "I have to talk with Jess for…"

"Oh, sure," she said.

"By Caroline," Jess waved.

"Bye" she replied just as the door shut on. She quickly and softly ran to the door and tried to hear what was so damn important to Nick. She didn't make it in time to hear what he said, but she heard what his roommate said, no questions asked.

"Have fun making terrible life decisions!" Jess exclaimed, and started to stomp off. Caroline was more than a little disappointed when Nick didn't just let her go. Instead, he went after her to continue the conversation.

Caroline listened intently to the showdown. They were talking so loud she didn't even need to keep her ear to the door for very much longer. Jess said was disappointed in him for not living up to his potential, Nick said he wanted her to mind her business. Caroline could hear in their voices, could hear in their less than eloquent pleas to each other that there was something going on. Something beyond pals. Something beyond roommates.

She might have known it from the start. All the way back to the wedding. Back when Nick was trying to pass Jess off as his girlfriend. It had certainly gotten a rise out of Caroline. A big one. Even though she had been seeing someone, she herself wasn't exactly sure how far she would've taken things with Nick had the rather absurd lie about Jess being pregnant not pushed things to a breaking point. It wasn't so much Nick's behavior on that day. He had been typical Nick. Uneasy, grumpy, cynical. Unsurprisingly unshaven. No, it was the ease Jess seemed to have around him. Holding his hand, playing with his hair… acting as though he were as cuddly as a Care Bear. Caroline knew better than anyone, Nick was no Care Bear.

Just like the day of the wedding, Caroline felt herself getting defensive. And then, just like the day of the wedding, she found herself wanting to take the offensive. Something about seeing Nick with that pair of annoyingly blue eyes and pile of wavy, dark hair just infuriated Caroline. And she just wasn't going to have any of it. The two of them out there getting all 'mad' at each other. And Nick! Comfortable enough around Jess to be doing so in only his boxers! By the time the spat had apparently broken down into a butt shaking competition, Caroline had come to a conclusion.

"Stop looking at my ass!" Jess yelled before again storming off.

"Oh I'm going to kill you," Nick said more to himself than to Jess.

Caroline took this to mean the fight was over, and she quickly ran to Nick's old CD player and turned the volume on the light Jazz he was playing up, hoping it would be loud enough to fool him into believing she hadn't heard any of what just happened. She grabbed some old magazine from the shelf above, dove onto the bed, and flipped to a random page. As she pretended to read what was apparently an old SI swimsuit issue, she began to wonder what was taking so long. What she had assumed would only take a few seconds ended up taking several minutes. What was he doing? When he finally did return, he stoically slipped through the door and shut it quietly behind him. He smiled unconvincingly at Caroline before sitting on the bed beside her.

"Everything OK," she asked, dropping the magazine to her lap.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"What did Jess need?"

"Oh, I have absolutely no idea what Jess needs," he said, rubbing his head.

She went to rub his neck, and he seemed to instinctively tense up. He again smiled apologetically as he forced his body to relax. Caroline continued to massage his shoulders as she went to work.

"So what do you think about staying at my place tonight?"

"That might not be such a bad idea."

"We could go see a movie, then try that new Thai place in my neighborhood."

"Yeah, you know that sounds… fine. That sounds good."

"That way we can have a little more… privacy."

"That would be good."

Caroline pulled Nick close, turning him to face her. She smiled at him a moment before getting to the most important part of her performance. She widened her eyes as faux concern spread across her face.

"Oh shoot, I forgot…"

"Forgot what?"

"It's just… we may need to stop and get some more blankets for the bedroom. Maybe a space heater."

"What's up?"'

"It's just been getting really drafty at night. I think the exposed brick wall in my bedroom has seen better days. I've talked to the landlord about getting someone to take a look at it…."

"Well, I could take a look if you…."

"No, no…" Caroline shook her head. Last thing she needed was a visit from Nick Miller, amateur maintenance man. "My lease is actually up at the end of the month anyway, so… I've been looking around."

"Oh… that makes sense then, you've been living there a while now," Nick said, relaxing.

"I actually have an appointment to see a place tomorrow. Any interest in coming with me? Couldn't hurt to have another set of eyes."

"Yeah, I'll tag along if you want," Nick said. He sat quietly for a moment, finally relaxed, it seemed. "Hey, I'm going to go grab the paper and take a look at the movie times, okay? I'll be right back."

"Sounds good," Caroline said, watching Nick walk to the door. "Hey, bring in the classifieds, too. I haven't checked them out today."

"You got it," Nick said, disappearing through the doorway.

Okay then, Caroline though to herself. She had about 12 hours or so to get herself an apartment viewing in the local area. A place that was nice, quaint, and affordable. And a place that was big enough for two.


End file.
